Schrager said he had always wanted to own a hotel in Chicago: “I cannot think of a better city, time or location to launch one of the two new hotel brands that I am creating,” says Schrager. “Chicago is a place that I consider one of the most beautiful and architecturally significant cities in America. After all, it is the city that Mies van der Rohe, one of the best architects in history, decided to call home.”
 
The 285-room and 189,000 square foot hotel, built in 1926 and located at 1301 Northstate Parkway at Goethe Street, will undergo a renovation in the following months along with its world-famous restaurant, The Pump Room.
 
 “It will still be the Ambassador East…but better,” says Schrager. The hotel has a long association with famous guests. In its heyday, the hotel served as the wedding location of Humphrey Bogart to Lauren Bacall and played host to world renowned celebrities such as Frank Sinatra, Judy Garland, John F. Kennedy, Natalie Wood and Robert Redford, to name but a few. Frank Sinatra was known to have booked an entire floor of rooms when in town, as well as clearing out the Pump Room for private parties with his famed Rat Pack friends. 

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